FAYETTEVILLE — The ball is flying a long distance at Baum Stadium at this weekend's NCAA regional.
Through four games, Arkansas, Southern Miss, Dallas Baptist and Oral Roberts have combined to hit 17 home runs in the Fayetteville Regional. That is already more than the 14 home runs combined in seven regional games at Baum Stadium last June.
The 17 home runs are the most at any regional site this weekend. Fourteen home runs have been hit in Gainesville, Fla., where No. 1 national seed Florida is hosting Jacksonville, Florida Atlantic and Columbia.
"I'll tell you what, it flies out of here," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. "...I don't remember this park playing as small back several years ago as it seems the past few days. The ball is really traveling."
Arkansas, which enters Sunday in the driver's seat of the regional, leads all teams with six home runs through two games. Dallas Baptist has five home runs, including four during its 18-9 elimination-game win over Oral Roberts earlier Saturday. Southern Miss has hit three and ORU catcher Riley Keizor hit all three of the Golden Eagles' homers after entering the regional with three all season.
Every team in the regional has scored at least nine runs in a single game.
The Razorbacks hit four homers in a 10-2 win over Oral Roberts on Friday, then two more as part of a seven-run second inning in Saturday's 10-2 win over Southern Miss.
"It's still the same dimensions, so I think it has to do with the temperatures, I think it has to do with the wind," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said when asked whether Baum Stadium is playing smaller than in the past. He noted several of this weekend's homers have been wind aided.
"You get this time of year, players have 200 at-bats and are seeing the ball pretty good, and if you make a mistake they make you pay for it," Van Horn said. "I think it is playing a little smaller than normal, but it really has to do with the weather."
In Arkansas' case, the home runs also have a little to do with added power. Four of the Razorbacks' six homers this weekend have been to the opposite field.
That was the case with both long balls Saturday night. Left-hander Jared Gates hit a home run just over the left-center field fence to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead. Batting from the right side, switch-hitter Eric Cole hit one off the back of the right-field bullpen two batters later to extend the lead to four runs.
Van Horn credited first-year strength coach Blaine Kinsley and first-year hitting coach Nate Thompson with the team's opposite-field power this season. Arkansas has hit 90 home runs - two off the single-season school record set in 2010 - and have hit several opposite-field homers.
"They've maintained their strength throughout the season," Van Horn said. "You get to a certain point in the season and it's hard to gain strength, but you don't want to lose strength; you don't want to get weaker. They've responded to everything he has said.
"We talk all the time about going the other way. We do drills that go the other way and if you have some guys that have power and are coachable, which we do, then they are going to get better, and we have."
Five of Arkansas' 13 hits against Southern Miss were to the opposite field and two more were up the middle.
"I think that's a true testament to Coach Thompson," said Carson Shaddy, Arkansas' second baseman who was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a walk Saturday. "He's really worked with us about staying on the ball...and driving it the other way. I think we're a team that can do a lot of things and opposite-field power is one of the things we're prepared to do and we're good at."